(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of heat transferable or pressure transferable pattern sheets for use in placing pictorial and design patterns on fabrics and particularly clothing and the like. More particularly, this invention relates to a multi-part transfer sheet by which a so-called "wrap around" or wide "seamless" pattern can be placed upon clothing at the point of sale.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In general, heat transfer printing involves the use of a so-called transfer sheet having a pictorial or other design representation on the surface rendered in dyes or coloring which are either sublimatic or meltable. Early transfer sheets used printing materials or dyes solid at room temperature, but meltable with the application of heat within the range of 150.degree. to 250.degree. C. so that the transfer sheet could be heated with an iron or the like while pressed against a fabric such as a so-called t-shirt or sweat shirt to transfer the pattern to the fabric from the transfer sheet. Early transfer printing involved frequently the use of a damp cloth or the like placed either upon the transfer or the fabric to form steam when heat was applied to aid in carrying the coloring material or dye into the cloth. Sublimable dyes and printing inks were soon developed, however, which generally superseded the use of steam to draw the coloring matter into the fibers of the fabric.
The transfer sheet is made by initially printing the dyes in a desired pattern on the transfer sheet. Such sheet is usually formed of a stiff paper sheet composition, the pattern being printed in a mirror image of the desired pattern to be applied later to the fabric surface. The transfer sheet is readily handled and shipped without smudging or deterioration and can be stored for long periods until needed without deterioration so long as it is not heated.
There are three broad types of apparatus and processes for applying transfer sheet patterns to fabrics. In one of these the fabric, such as t-shirt or a sweat shirt or the like, is laid out on a flat surface and the transfer sheet is laid upon the fabric in the position at which the pattern is to be applied, after which a hot iron is passed over the surface of the transfer sheet to activate the inks of the transfer sheet and transfer them to the fabric. Alternatively, the transfer sheet may be laid upon the flat surface and the fabric laid over it after which a heated iron is applied to the surface of the fabric. Either one of these procedures are strictly hand operations and are consequently labor intensive and the results may be of variable quality and low satisfaction. However, the process is adaptable and flexible and can be used with a minimum of equipment. The process is usable with various sized transfer sheets, but the quality over a broad expanse of material may be non-uniform and therefore less than desirable.
A second broad type of apparatus commonly employed in heat transfer printing is a flat heated press somewhat like a press for pressing fabrics. Such presses are relatively inexpensive and come in several sizes, of which the most common are 20.times.20 inches or 16.times.20 inches. These presses partially mechanize the transfer process, since, although they are customarily operated by hand, they print or press an entire transfer sheet at one time and generally provide a uniform quality product. Such presses also have the considerable advantage of being cheap and readily usable by unskilled labor so that almost every novelty or clothing establishment can have or afford one. As a consequence, a shop having a press, plus a supply of a variety of transfer sheets with a variety of pictorial representations upon them can maintain only a small inventory of uniform clothing items such as plain white t-shirts in several sizes, yet can sell such t-shirts with a wide variety of pictorial or design patterns upon them by merely transferring various patterns to their surface from a supply or inventory of various transfer sheets using the transfer heat press process as customers order various designs or pictorial representations from the small inventory of actual clothing items. A small establishment with a limited budget may, therefore, provide to its customers as broad a line or selection of patterned shirts or other clothing as can a much larger establishment vends ready made or machine transfer printed clothing requiring a much larger inventory of clothing items. Thus, while the procedure of opening the press, laying the garment in the press, laying the printed heat transfer sheet upon the garment, closing the flat plate of the press upon the transfer and the garment, allowing heat to soak into the transfer and garment (taking from a fraction of a minute to several minutes depending upon the transfer materials) to effect transfer of the pattern from the transfer to the garment, and opening the press and removing the printed garment, is discontinuous, time consuming, laborious and generally costly, it does have the considerable advantage of being less capital or inventory intensive than the more mechanical continuous transfer printing process.
The third type of prior art heat transfer printing uses basically a heated roller with a continuous roll of transfer sheet material and a continuous roll of fabric material which are rapidly fed to the printing apparatus in face to face relationship. The entire apparatus comprises a series of rollers, including the heated roller against which the transfer sheet material may be pressed together with the fabric by a third sheet-like material referred to as an "endless blanket" or backing material. Other arrangements for such machine-type printing have also been used, generally involving the use of a continuous transfer sheet material which during the operation is pressed while heated against the material to be printed to transfer the desired pattern. Such processes are relatively fast, accurate and capital intensive rather labor intensive. Such apparatus and processes are, therefore, suitable for high productions of identical products in an industrial or semi-industrial setting.
The common transfer printing operation using a press such as found in small shops or, not infrequently, in large shops where it is desired to limit inventory, is as indicated above, usually limited to a 20.times.20 or 16.times.20 inch or smaller field due to the limited size of presses available in most establishments. Large presses can be obtained, but being more capital intensive and not significantly faster and not providing significantly better quality, are not popular. Rather than purchasing a larger press for larger sized transfer, it may be more economical to purchase or maintain an increased inventory of machine transfer printed materials. In some cases, furthermore, it has been possible to print adjoining pictorial material on the same garment by multiple use of the same press. For example, if pictorial material is to be transferred to both the back and front of a garment, the garment can be transfer printed consecutively in the same press. Unfortunately, it has not been possible in most cases to register or to bring adjoining pictorial representations together as a unit, i.e. print larger pictorial representations in two separate steps, because of a visible seam or line either in the form of an open space or gap across the pictorial representation or in the form of a darker line visible at the registration or merging point due to overlap both due to transverse misalignment or of a visible demarcation in the form of a slight vertical or longitudinal misalignment. Very small misalignments of mere fractions of a millimeter may become highly visible because of cumulative visual cues. While a machine transfer printing process, furthermore, may be able to counteract such misalignments by accurate operation of the machinery and transfer process, such extreme accuracy is not possible in the manual use of an ordinary transfer press. Contiguous use of the hot press on adjacent portions of the final design have also tended to cause blurring and distortion of the pictorial design.
In recent years so-called "seamless" or "wrap-around" designs have become quite popular. These are designs which extend from arm pit to arm pit on a t-shirt or a sweat shirt. Such designs are nominally twenty-six inches across and cannot, therefore, be fitted into the usually available size of press. All such "seamless" designs have had, therefore, to be machine printed or machine transfer printed and have not been producible on the premises of most shops unless such shop could afford the more complicated machine printing apparatus or a larger manual press which larger press is not usually economically viable compared to stocking additional inventory for most establishments. Attempts have been made to produce the seamless designs in two steps with the usual press equipment. However, the seam or delineation border has always been visible between the two parts in the final product.
The present inventor has discovered that it is possible to produce such seamless designs by use of the usual sized presses by the use of a novel two section or multipartite transfer sheet or sheets carefully made to de-emphasize the connection or registration point between the designs and provided with a heat shield to protect the first applied design representation from the second press operation. Such two-part transfer can be quickly and easily made in the usual shop having a conventional press. This enables the average sales establishment that relies upon on-site press type transfer operations, in order to reduce any necessary inventory, to provide "seamless" or "wrap-around" designs on fabrics and particularly on t-shirts, sweat shirts and the like. The press can, of course, also apply the more traditional sized transfer designs.